Potterhead
by kldoss89
Summary: Description: Melinda spent her childhood dreaming of fighting adventures alongside Harry, Ron, and Hermione. She felt the pain every September 1st, knowing that the Hogwarts Express left without her. Hogwarts was her home. She refused to let go of the magical world after she grew up. There was a longing that she just could not explain. Until one day...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Of course, as always, I do not own the Harry Potter series or JK Rowling. I am not creative enough to come up with something that great. Any likenesses between the main character and myself may or may not be purely coincidental.

This story is long, and may cause you to neglect your real world responsibilities while you read. You have been warned.

Chapter One  
The Visitor

5:57 PM.

Melinda stared at the second hand on the clock. Just five minutes until she was off work. Like every other day, the time was crawling so slowly, it almost went backwards. It wasn't so much that Melinda disliked her job. But after answering phones all day, dealing with angry customers, and completing piles of paperwork, she was mentally exhausted by noon.

Finally at 6:00, Melinda almost ran to her car in the parking garage. She could hear the rain on the floor above her as she started her car and took a deep sigh of relief, closed her eyes for a minute, and reveled in the fact that she was free for the weekend. She had a date that weekend with her couch, where she planned to have a weekend long Harry Potter movie marathon for one.

The drive home was a perfect time for Melinda to think and reflect about her life. She wondered how she became the person she was. She used to be so passionate about life as a child. However, years of being treated like an outcast had pushed her to become a shell of her former self. She never felt accepted for who she was. Yes, she was a little bit... odd. But she was not the total weirdo everyone seemed to think she was. She was just different is all.

The only time Melinda felt accepted was when she allowed herself to escape into the magical world of Harry Potter. She would never admit it to her co-workers, but the series gave her a sense of peace and belonging. Everything from walking down to Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures to narrowly escaping dementors, Melinda always imagined herself right there alongside the golden trio, planning their next adventure. Yes, to some, it was just a children's book. But it was so much more to Melinda. She truly believed that Hogwarts was her home.

That night, Melinda snuggled on the couch with some popcorn and soda, watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It was coming up to one of her favorite parts in the movie. Soon, Hagrid would knock on the door to take Harry to the world he truly belonged in... the world they BOTH belonged in. Any second now. Wait for it...

Suddenly, the power went out in her living room, and Melinda deflated. "Perfect!", she thought bitterly as she searched for her cell phone to use as a temporary light. "I just want one weekend to watch movies, and the power goes out!"

Melinda's fingers touched her phone. She went to grab it just as there was a knock on the door. Surprised by the unexpected sound, she dropped it again, where it landed under the couch.

Fear began to trickle down her spine, as she listened to the insistent knocking on the other side of the door. She didn't get visitors in the best of times, let alone this late at night.

After several moments that felt like hours, Melinda finally got the courage to answer the door. Slowly, she turned the handle and opened it an inch to peek out. There was a young man, not much older than her by the looks of it, standing there with a small grin on his round face.

"Can I help you?" She asked suspiciously.

"Are you Melinda?" he asked her jovially.

"Who wants to know?" Melinda responded, perhaps a little more rudely than she meant to be. But she was scared. Why did he keep smiling like that?

"Ah yes, of course, how rude of me! Hi there. I'm Neville. Neville Longbottom." He answered, holding out his hand in greeting.

One day, Melinda would look back at that moment in her life and wonder why she didn't slam the door in the man's face. She knew that this had to be either a mean trick someone was playing on her, or a strange attempt at breaking and entering. But at that moment, she was in so much shock at the appearance of this person that she didn't move. The stranger claiming to be Neville Longbottom dropped his hand awkwardly and cleared his throat.

"Ahem. Yes, well, any chance of letting me inside? It's getting pretty nasty out here. And I need a chance to explain."

This man can't be serious. Did he really think that she was going to let a complete stranger into her house, especially one who showed up at night in a storm, claiming to be a character in a fictional book? What kind of idiot did he take her for?

"The lights", Melinda responded numbly.

"Umm, excuse me? Lights?" Neville looked at her bemusedly.

Melinda shook her head a little and tried to force herself to think clearly. "The lights are out."

"Oh! No problem." Said Neville. He whipped something long and skinny out of the inside of his jacket and flicked it. The lights immediately turned back on.

"There now, that's better isn't it?" Neville said with a little smile.

Melinda never heard him ask the question, however. The shock of seeing the magic be performed caused her to pass out cold.

Well there it is, the first chapter! I have been wanting to write this for so long, but something always seemed to come up before I got around to it. At this point, this is the shortest chapter. Please review and let me know what you think! The more reviews, the quicker the updates! J


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Of course, as always, I do not own the Harry Potter series or JK Rowling. I am not creative enough to come up with something that great. Any likenesses between the main character and myself may or may not be purely coincidental.

This story is long, and may cause you to neglect your real world responsibilities while you read. You have been warned.

* * *

Chapter Two  
Explanation and Mystery

"Good morning, sleepy head."

Melinda opened her eyes and looked around. She was laying on her living room couch, and a man was sitting on the arm chair next to her. She groggily tried to remember what happened.

"TREVOR!" cried the boy on the television.

"I hate that part. They made my voice sound so high pitched. I do not sound like that!" said the man.

My voice... voice... Neville Longbottom... Door... Magic...

Memory after memory flashed through Melinda's head as it all came back to her. She shot up into a sitting position and immediately regretted it, her head swimming from the sudden change of movement.

"Whoa, easy there! Don't go moving too fast and passing out again." Neville said, leaving his seat and coming to stand in front of her to keep her from falling forward off of the couch.

"Why are you here? Do you want money? I don't have any, but you can take whatever you want if you just leave!" Melinda spat at him.

"Money?" Neville said incredulously. "Of course I don't want money. I just-"

"Then what do you want? Who put you up to this? If it was Carl from accounting... he always talks about me, but I never thought he would stoop this low."

"Melinda, if you would please just listen to me-"

"It was, wasn't it? I bet you can't wait to go back to your good buddy so you can both have a laugh at me."

"Melinda, please don't make me put a silencing-"

"Are we really in high school? Do you think that this is funny? Does it look like I think it's funny, having strangers come in and-"

Neville sighed. "I'm really sorry about doing this, SILENCIO!"

Melinda's eyes widened. She opened and closed her mouth, but nothing was coming out. But that was a spell. A Harry Potter spell! How...?

"Now can I PLEASE explain?" Neville asked desperately. Melinda did nothing. Neville took that as an invitation to continue.

"I know you are confused. I would be, too. But there is a very simple explanation for everything." Neville said.

"In 1998, there was a war, a great war between light and dark. You know all about it, of course. Harry Potter saved the wizarding world from a terrible fate. But the ministry had to make a decision to protect the muggle born witches and wizards. If the death eaters had access to the list of them, we would have no way to protect them from being killed. The decision was made to destroy the list. We made them invisible, even to themselves."

Melinda was frozen. She did not understand why the strange man was telling her this. But part of her, inexplicably, remained calm and listened to his every word.

"A spell was cast over the list before it was destroyed. No witch or wizard listed on the list would have any sort of magical signs. Their abilities lay dormant in their minds. Of course, they knew they were different. They knew there was something missing in their lives.

The ministry knew that one day, they would work to move the "Invisible Ones", as they were called, back into our world, but how to do it? It is one thing to explain it to a child. Even muggle children have an understanding and acceptance of magic in their young mind. But they would never believe as they grew, never understand like an adult who had been hidden from the world in which they belonged in.

The idea finally came to one of the witches in Muggle Relations. A book, something available to all children, but bewitched so that when an Invisible One would read it, they would have an unexplainable draw to the books. It worked like a charm. Of course, Rowling is kind of known for her unorthodox methods and ideas. But, it had to be done in a way that did not derail the Statute of Secrecy. She headed up the whole thing herself, of course. She's brilliant, even if she is a little eccentric.

After months of interviews, Rowling finished the book. She had the copies published in strategic locations, making sure that every Invisible One would have access. Of course, muggles would have access to the books as well. But in their minds, the book would just be an interesting story. It wouldn't call to them. But every time an Invisible One would read it, they would feel at home, they would believe, deep down, that somewhere there was a hidden magical world, just around the corner. The only people who would truly understand them were other Invisible Ones.

This also helped catch them up with the war, so that when it was time for them to come back to us, to the world they belonged to, they would be caught up. And that is why I am here."

Melinda thought she knew where this was going. He was about to say it and confirm her suspicion that he was either crazy or this was the most epic prank ever.

"There is a reason you love Harry Potter. You are a very special person, Melinda. You are a witch."

There it was. There was the line. She wasn't going to believe it… was she? She was having a hard time getting her rational thoughts to match up with her ability to disbelieve at the moment. She knew he was insane. And yet... and yet it all just felt right. It was as if she always knew, and he was telling her something so obvious that she didn't see the need to question.

"I know you have loads of questions. I don't want to keep the silencing charm on you. I just needed to be able to explain. I will try to answer as many questions as I can while we are traveling. We don't have much time though. We need to be careful when we travel, and stay as hidden as possible. If I take the silencing charm off, you have to promise not to scream when we leave. There's no way of knowing if we are being followed or not, and we don't want any unwanted attention on ourselves. Do you promise?"

Melinda nodded, and, with a flick of his wand, Neville lifted the charm.

"Why? If the war is over, why do we need to be so secretive when we travel?"

Neville didn't quite meet her eyes when he responded, "It's just better this way. Trust me."

"There aren't still- still Death Eaters on the loose, are there?" Melinda asked hesitantly.

"Of course not!" Neville said, this time looking right at her. "They were all arrested ages ago.

"Then what-" Melinda began.

"Please, just trust me." Neville said firmly as he offered his hand to her. Melinda knew it was no good trying to argue. Instead, she took his hand, and they walked out into the night together.

* * *

Hey everyone! I know, I know, there was a LONG delay between chapters. I want to give enough information to make sure no one is confused, but not so much that it would give away the entire story. That proved quite difficult for me. As always, PLEASE review! I love the support and/or constructive criticism, and I love knowing that others are reading. Until next time...


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